Book details
The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi
Published February 14, 2023 by Hodder & Stoughton
RRP AUD $32.99
★★★★☆
Once upon a time, a man who believed in fairy tales married a beautiful, mysterious woman named Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada. He was a scholar of myths. She was heiress to a fortune. They exchanged gifts and stories and believed they would live happily ever after—and in exchange for her love, Indigo extracted a promise: that her bridegroom would never pry into her past.
But when Indigo learns that her estranged aunt is dying and the couple is forced to return to her childhood home, the House of Dreams, the bridegroom will soon find himself unable to resist. For within the crumbling manor’s extravagant rooms and musty halls, there lurks the shadow of another girl: Azure, Indigo’s dearest childhood friend who suddenly disappeared. As the house slowly reveals his wife’s secrets, the bridegroom will be forced to choose between reality and fantasy, even if doing so threatens to destroy their marriage… or their lives.
Combining the lush, haunting atmosphere of Mexican Gothic with the dreamy enchantment of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, The Last Tale of the Flower Bride is a spellbinding and darkly romantic page-turner about love and lies, secrets and betrayal, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive.
Review
I’ve had this book on my radar for quite a while now, and I was fortunate enough to be able to get my hands on an early proof copy! I sat down one evening, and devoured it in one sitting. I knew I loved Roshani Chokshi’s writing, and I had a feeling that I’d love The Last Tale of the Flower Bride – I went in blind, and was so enthralled by the story. This is Roshani’s adult debut, and if this is just a taste of what’s to come, I want ALL of it.
The story was so lush and haunting, it followed the story of a scholar with a vast knowledge of fairy tales, and his new bride, Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada: an enigmatic, elusive and otherworldly heiress. The two quickly fall into an all-consuming love, with only one condition – that the Bridegroom never looks into Indigo’s past. This works for a period of time, and the Bridegroom is content with the nature of their marriage; however, everything begins to change when Indigo receives a call letting her know that her estranged Aunt is dying, and the two must return to Indigo’s sentient childhood home, the House of Dreams. However, the House has secrets that are begging to be uncovered, secrets pertaining to Indigo’s past, and to the mysterious disappearance of Indigo’s inseperable best friend, Azure.
I don’t want to say too much about the plot itself, as I truly thought it was so wonderful being able to go on the journey that Roshani takes us on, but the whole book had such a gorgeous atmosphere to it. Roshani’s writing was so exquisite, she was able to weave together such a lovely, dark tale of monstrousness, beauty and magic. It truly reads like a fairy tale, and I loved that Roshani also chose to weave little fairy tales throughout the story as a means of explaining the plot.
The characters were compelling and quite complex overall. The Bridegroom is less so than Indigo and Azure, but I thought it was quite fitting as the story felt more like it was Indigo and Azure’s story rather than Indigo and the Bridegroom’s story. I also thought it was really interesting that the Bridegroom was only known to us as ‘the Bridegroom’, and it really felt like Indigo was this glittering, enigmatic character when looking at her through the lens of both the Bridegroom and Azure.
Overall, I thought this was an absolutely beautiful book, and it was a perfect choice to kick off my 2023 reads! I would absolutely recommend this, and I can’t wait for everyone to be able to experience the lush, haunted beauty of this book.
About the Author
Roshani Chokshi is the award-winning author of the New York Times bestselling series The Star-Touched Queen, The Gilded Wolves and Aru Shah and The End of Time, which Time Magazine named one of the Top 100 Fantasy Books of All Time. Her adult debut, The Last Tale of The Flower Bride, was a #1 Sunday Times bestseller. Her novels have been translated into more than two dozen languages and often draw upon world mythology and folklore. Chokshi is a member of the National Leadership Board for the Michael C. Carlos Museum and lives in Georgia with her husband and their cat whose diabolical plans must regularly be thwarted.
Shanayah Reads 